A heat pipe is a known device for cooling a heat-generating component, such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or the like, that is provided in electronic devices. The heat pipe utilizes a phase change of a working fluid to transfer heat.
One example of the heat pipe includes plates that are mutually arranged at 90-degree crossing angles in a lattice, where each plate has a meander groove formed on one surface thereof. The working fluid is sealed in a tunnel of the meander groove. This heat pipe has a structure in which a vapor pipe and a liquid pipe are not separate, as proposed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-165582, for example.
However, according to the proposed heat pipe described above, the working fluid that is condensed and returned and the vapor diffusion from an evaporation part pass through the same tunnel. For this reason, the working fluid evaporates in a vicinity of the evaporation part and spreads along the tunnel of the groove, but the vapor can be prevented from spreading due to the working fluid existing in the tunnel. In addition, when the working fluid that is cooled, condensed, and liquefied returns to the evaporation part after the vapor spreads, the liquefied working fluid collides with the vapor. Accordingly, heat dissipation of the proposed heat pipe is poor because the evaporation and the condensation do not occur cyclically.